


Tag! You're It

by thecheekydragon



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arthur is the Golden Boy of Camelot High, Bombing, Fic for Art, Graffiti, M/M, Merlin is a street art wizard, Mordred is a two-bit tagger, POV Alternating, The Druid Crew, The Wizard, Will drops a lot of f-bombs, Will is an awesome best friend, street art, tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 09:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecheekydragon/pseuds/thecheekydragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That Merlin, a secret tagger, suddenly finds himself on a Task Force Against Graffiti and Vandalism has <i>absolutely nothing</i> to do with his crush on Arthur Pendragon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tag! You're It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bookwrm89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwrm89/gifts).



> Fic inspired by[ this art](http://bookwrm89.livejournal.com/108563.html%0A) piece created by the wonderfully amazing [bookwrm89](http://bookwrm89.livejournal.com)

  


He made a final pass over the armour, highlighting the shading detail, then finished the piece off with his signature – a spiral with a lightning bolt tail – which many on the street (but few at Camelot High) would recognize as the tag proclaiming the work of “The Wizard”.

He took a long step back to assess his work. “Well, “ Merlin said, letting the can dangle from his fingertips. “What do you think?”

“It’s fucking magical, ” Will replied. “You’re a wizard with a fucking can of spray paint, dude.” He rolled his eyes. “Can we get the hell out of here now?” he asked. “Because I am _not_ going down for your gaggingly sick crush on a guy who can’t be bothered to give you the time of day.” 

Merlin rolled his own eyes then sighed. He gave his locker graffiti art one long last critical look before gathering up the cans, tips, markers, rags and other tagging paraphernalia that had been used in creating the (he looked at his watch) _all-night_ portrait piece.

It had been Will, Merlin’s perennial partner-in-crime and best friend since first grade, who had busted them into the school and to the locker room on the Saturday (Will had lock-picking talents that rivalled Merlin’s artistic ones) so that Merlin could do his ‘magic’. And while it was no secret that Will was more than happy to trounce authority and break laws for The Cause – defilement of public property via Merlin’s artistic talents – he was less enthusiastic about doing it when it came to enabling Merlin’s crush on golden boy Arthur Pendragon. It wasn’t that his best friend didn’t support Merlin’s preference for boys over girls - Will was totally on board with that. It was that Will wasn’t overly fond of good-looking jocks with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a shit load of family wealth and prestige who couldn’t be bothered to notice guys like Merlin.

Merlin, however, was not so deterred. He had fallen for Arthur Pendragon in their freshman year and the crush (he usually thought of it as The Crush) hadn’t abated one bit in three years. And in that three years, Merlin hadn’t come any closer to getting Arthur to notice him either. Which was pathetic, really, and not in the least because Will teased him mercilessly about it, the bastard. But once The Crush had settled in, it was difficult to damn near impossible to let it go.

Will helped Merlin shove cans and markers into the backpacks. When everything had been gathered, Will clapped a hand on Merlin’s back. “It’s fucking brilliant, Merlin,” he reassured (okay, so Will could sometimes be a real bastard but he was still Merlin’s best bud and his biggest fan) before taking one of the backpacks and shouldering it. He flicked the switch for the main lights and pushed open the exit door. “Trust me,” he said, giving Merlin his trademark mischievous wink. “It’ll be _the talk_ on Monday.” 

Merlin followed Will out the door into the early light of dawn breaking. Maybe, he thought. But all he really cared was that Arthur Pendragon would see it.

“Well fuck,” said Coach Leon, stopping dead in the middle of the locker room, gaping openly at the set of lockers before them.

Well fuck was right.

They had just filed in for Monday morning lacrosse practice and were presented with a sight Arthur could never have imagined in his wildest dreams. There on the lockers was a portrait – graffiti style – of _Arthur_ done up to look like a _knight_ (they were the Camelot Knights, after all) in fucking _chainmail_ and _armour_. 

It was the single most fantastically amazing thing Arthur had ever seen. Still, he had never been comfortable being the centre of attention and he could feel his cheeks already starting to heat up.

Coach Leon let out a low whistle then turned and waggled his eyebrows at Arthur. All around, his teammates were holding up various cell phones and taking pictures. Coach Leon even pulled out his phone and took one.

Gwaine elbowed Arthur in the ribs. “Looks like _someone_ has a crush on you, Princess,” he teased, grinning wide. 

Arthur supposed art, especially the portrait kind, was the deepest form of flattery but it was still awkward as hell having to open his locker (which was dead centre of the set and hence the portrait) to get his gear. Particularly when most of his teammates were smirking at him while some were still taking pictures.

Thankfully, Coach Leon brought their attentions back to the task at hand. “Let’s get it together, ladies,” he boomed, drawing a snicker from Gwaine. “I want you suited up and out on the field in five.” 

Then he blew his whistle for good measure. Just in case there was some misunderstanding about what he was saying.

  
The Camelot High gossip mill was in full swing by the time Arthur made his way to the cafeteria for lunch. People he didn’t even know were whispering behind hands and trying to point subtly (most failing), obviously caught up in the talk about the graffiti knight portrait of Arthur that was on display in the locker room. And, really, how quickly did news travel through the high school network? Arthur had just come from practice, ahead of most of his teammates. There must have been texts sent from the locker room immediately following the picture taking.

His own phone binged from his pocket, indicating a text message. Arthur pulled out his phone and opened the message, finding a picture attachment of the locker art and an accompanying text from Gwaine: _figured you didn’t take one_

Arthur sighed. He really appreciated that someone had gone to a lot of trouble (no, really, _a lot of trouble_ as in they must have broken into the school on the weekend in order to paint the lockers) to create that fantastic piece, basically proclaiming their admiration (Gwaine said ‘crush’ but Arthur didn’t want to go there) for him. But it was making Arthur deeply embarrassed to be the focus of attention and school gossip. While it was true that, as a star athlete and top scholar, Arthur placed high on the popularity chart of the high school hierarchy, it didn’t mean he was comfortable with it. In fact, Gwaine was probably the only one who understood how much Arthur hated being the ‘golden boy’ everyone else seemed to think Arthur was or wanted him to be.

He did his best to ignore the buzzing whispers around him as he collected his lunch. He hadn’t seen Gwaine come into the cafeteria yet (his friend had taken a detour after practice, telling Arthur he would ‘catch up’) but figured he would be along soon enough. Arthur really didn’t want to have to sit with the entire group today. He didn’t think he could endure the good-natured smirks and teasing that were bound to come his way from Owain, Percy, Elyan and even Lance. Arthur was used to and could deal with Gwaine’s teasing. Besides, he had enough potential blackmail material to shut Gwaine up pretty quick.

He was thinking about the blackmail tidbit he could open with (which may or may not have involved a goat) when he turned to look for his friend, and found his tray being jostled out of his hands and onto the floor as a lanky body in a hooded sweatshirt tripped ungracefully and rammed into him.

“Oh shit, sorry,” a voice mumbled.

Arthur pulled his gaze away from the now upturned tray on the floor to the source of the voice, his eyes meeting a set of beautiful dark blue ones.  
It was the artsy emo (was that even still a thing?) kid from his chemistry class. The _cute_ artsy emo kid. The one Arthur absolutely did not have even a tiny crush on. Because he wasn’t a girl, okay? And only girls had crushes, tiny or otherwise.

Arthur blinked. “Um...”

The kid darted a glance at the mess on the floor of the cafeteria and began mumbling another string of apologies. He was blushing fiercely, looking skittish and uncomfortable and Arthur wondered if he was maybe a little bit afraid of him. Or afraid of what Arthur might do to him.

“It’s okay,” Arthur assured, holding his palms up and out, not wanting to spook an already skittish colt. “No biggie. It was just an accident.” 

Gwaine had suddenly shown up and was now picking up Arthur’s tray from the floor, chucking the parts of Arthur’s lunch that he could into the nearest trash bin. “Yeah, don’t get used to this, Princess,” Gwaine said. “Just because you’re locker famous now doesn’t mean you’re going to get royal treatment all the time.”

Did Gwaine _have_ to bring up the whole graffiti art locker portrait? Arthur internally groused. In front of the cute artsy guy? Geez, maybe the kid hadn’t even heard about it. Or hadn’t heard about it _yet_.

Arthur shot Gwaine a look then turned back to the blue-eyed cutie but the kid was mumbling, “Sorry...again...bye,” and rushed off before Arthur could say anything more.

“Who was that?” Gwaine asked nosily, sidling up next to Arthur.

“Think his name’s Merlin,” Arthur said. “He’s in my chem class.”

“He’s cute,” Gwaine expressed appreciatively. “Even if he did just topple your lunch.”

“Hmm,” Arthur hummed noncommittally, then got back in line to collect another lunch.

“Well, that’s one way of getting him to notice you,” Will commented dryly as Merlin set his tray down on the table and took a seat across from him. 

Merlin buried his face in his hands. “God, I’m such a dork,” he lamented. Had he really just tripped and fallen into Arthur Pendragon, upending his lunch tray onto the floor, then bolted like a spazz without so much as offering to help clean up?

Yeah. He was definitely a dork. Times a thousand.

Will grinned. “Don’t take this the wrong way, dude, but yeah. You’re a dork.”

Merlin uncovered his face and picked up his chicken salad sandwich, keeping his eyes on Will. Because he refused to look over – except in his periphery and only with the utmost stealth – to where Arthur Pendragon was now setting his (new) tray of food down at a table across from the friend with the shiny hair who had mentioned the locker art.

So at least Merlin knew for sure Arthur had seen it.

He told Will this. “Well, I guess breaking the law in about five different ways for your crush was totally worth it then,” Will expressed magnanimously. “Just don’t expect me to do it again.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow.

“Okay. Just not so soon again,” Will clarified, grinning around his meatball sub, which was a food group of its own in Will’s nutritional pyramid. “Gotta spread out my acts of delinquency while I’m still in the prime of my youth.”

Merlin chuckled. It was definitely one of the things he loved about Will. Will always had his back. Even when it involved illegal activity _and_ meant enabling Merlin’s hopeless crush.

They were just finishing up their lunch – complaining at intervals about history (Will) and chemistry (Merlin) – when Mordred and his group stopped by their table.

Mordred, who was a year below Merlin and Will but shared an interest in tagging, leaned in with a smirk. “I see The Wizard was at work in the locker room,” he said.

“Shhhh!” Will hissed, darting a quick look around. He slurped noisily at the last remaining drops of his chocolate milk. “Yeah, we don’t know anything about that.”

Mordred’s smirk grew wider. “’Course not,” he said then focused his attention on Merlin. “Dude, that piece must have taken ages,” he commented and Merlin was sure Mordred could guess just how long it had taken. “But kind of putting your crush on Pendragon out there, wouldn’t you say?” Merlin blushed and Mordred smiled. “It’s okay. I can totally respect that.”

“Well, how about taking your respect somewhere else?” Will interjected. “We’re having lunch here.”

Mordred glanced at the finished remains of their lunch, cocked an eyebrow then shot Will a mocking grin. He pushed back from the table and left then, his friends following.

“He’d better keep his mouth shut,” Will muttered, “Or I’ll take back my weekly delinquent acts quota and pummel his ass.”

“Mordred’s one of us,” Merlin reminded. “He knows the code.”

It was code among taggers and graffiti artists not to rat each other out by publicly identifying another artist’s work. Merlin was sure Mordred wouldn’t be telling anyone that the locker room piece was his.

“Mordred’s _wack_ , Merlin,” Will said. “He’s a two-bit tagger who knows he doesn’t have one-millionth of your magical talent. You can’t trust him.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “You’re a two-bit tagger,” he teased, knowing Will wouldn’t take offence. “And I trust you.”

Will grinned. “Yeah, but I hang with this really cool street artist cat who is fucking awesome,” he said, standing and grabbing his tray.

Merlin wasn’t about to argue with that.

“ _Mr._ Emrys,” said Mr. Monmouth, his lips pursing and his tone sardonic. “Do you think it is possible for you to get through _one_ class without setting yourself on fire?”

His classmates snickered. There were puffs of smoke billowing around Merlin’s head he was pretty sure were coming from his eyebrows.

“Um, no sir?”

Mr. Monmouth raised an eyebrow and Merlin could see his eye starting to twitch. More snickering came from the class.

“I mean, yes sir?” Merlin tried again. He tapped fingertips to his smoking brows to assess the damage (and to put out any lingering flames) and breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, he still had eyebrows, though he was reasonably certain they were singed to hell.

Merlin hated chemistry. He was convinced it was the bane of his existence (Gaius, his guidance counsellor, thought otherwise, insisting that it would broaden Merlin’s post-high school opportunities and had strongly suggested that he continue taking it). Ask him to combine different kinds and shades of paint and Merlin could create amazing things with it. But make him mix chemical compounds or substances (actually, he didn’t even know a compound from a substance) and that was just asking for an explosion to happen. 

To be fair, he didn’t set himself on fire _every_ class. Just a majority of them. Merlin had already gone through three lab partners since the start of the term because no one wanted to risk getting blown up or catching fire (okay, so that Valiant kid may have come away with a very mild first-degree burn but that was _one_ time). Mr. Monmouth had begun to suggest that Merlin work alone on lab assignments – strictly for safety reasons, he said.

And, really, Merlin’s chemistry challenges were embarrassing enough without adding the fact that the boy he had a crush on – Arthur Pendragon – was in his class. Which meant that Merlin’s mortifying incompetence and cringe-worthy dorkness were on display for Arthur every freaking class.

Yeah. He really hated chemistry.

  
Arthur jabbed a snickering Percy in the side with his elbow, giving his friend a pointed look. Percy schooled his features and did his best to look guilty but Arthur could see the corners of his mouth twitching.

Everyone in the class knew that Merlin, the cute artsy kid who had rammed into Arthur at lunch earlier, struggled with chemistry. Almost every class, Merlin either made something explode or set something on fire. It made Arthur’s classmates laugh and Mr. Monmouth’s eye twitch – which was really the funnier thing than Merlin’s ‘accidents’ – but Arthur knew it had to be embarrassing for the kid. As it was, nobody in the class was willing to pair up with Merlin to complete lab assignments because of the risks involved, so Mr. Monmouth had suggested that Merlin complete the assignments alone – which only increased the potential for an explosion, as far as Arthur was concerned.

Arthur thought maybe he could offer to pair up with Merlin next time. He would exercise utmost caution, of course. And who knew? He might even end up preventing Merlin from blowing something up. Arthur was pretty good at chemistry. He had an A in the class so far. Maybe he could even ask Merlin if he wanted Arthur to tutor him. That way Arthur could keep up with his own studying _and_ he could get to know the boy he didn’t have a crush on a little better.

So it was decided. He’d ask Merlin after class about partnering up and about possible tutoring. For now, he concentrated on finishing the assignment with Percy.

But when class ended and Arthur looked to the back of the classroom to catch the kid’s attention, Arthur saw that Merlin was already gone.

Arthur shrugged it off and pretended not to be too disappointed.

They spent the next afternoon in assembly listening to Principal Aredian drone on about the monumental failings of today’s youth.

After fifteen excruciating minutes, Merlin felt his eyelids growing heavy. Will, who was sitting beside him, had long since checked out, his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open, slack-jawed. 

“...recent act of vandalism in the boys’ locker room...”

This caught Merlin’s attention. He slapped a palm over Will’s mouth to muffle his snoring, grinning at Freya who was stifling a giggle on Will’s other side.

He focused on paying attention to what Aredian was saying, catching a look from Mordred, who was sitting two rows up and glancing back at him, when the principal announced that not only was he having the lockers painted to remove the ‘graffiti’ (he said the word like it was poison) but that he was establishing a Task Force led by students who would be responsible for ‘eliminating and discouraging’ vandalism on school property and in the surrounding community.

Well, shit.

Merlin had expected Aredian to have the lockers painted over – this was Camelot High not the Sistine Chapel and Merlin was no Michelangelo – but a watch-dogging task force? Really?

Looking quite pleased with his announcement and the stir it seemed to be causing among some students, Aredian continued. “I am furthermore appointing senior student Arthur Pendragon as leader of the Task Force.” The principal gave a nod and smile to the golden boy seated in the first row.

Well, double shit. 

This seemed to rouse and bring Will around and Merlin’s friend was now muttering a string of curses barely under his breath. Merlin caught ‘what the fuck’, ‘buggering fuckery’, ‘fucking camel shit’ and ‘fascist bastard thinks he’s some kind of fucking god’ – all of Will’s classics. Will had zero love for Aredian, Camelot High’s principal.

“There will be a sign-up sheet posted on the board across from the cafeteria to join the Task Force. You may consider this as an opportunity that will count toward your required community service hours.” He looked out at the group of students assembled. “That is all.”

  
Arthur still couldn’t figure out if it was meant to be a reward or a punishment that he had been appointed by the school’s principal as leader of the Task Force Against Graffiti and Vandalism (which, really, had all the potential of being a glorified witch hunt, Arthur thought).

“I’m gonna go with punishment,” Gwaine said, giving Arthur a roguish grin. “Our highly esteemed principal is clearly pissed that somebody had the nerve to paint a lovely portrait of you on our lockers and not him.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. Though he was mostly glad that the lockers were being painted over – it was still embarrassing to open his locker when the rest of the team was there, smirking at him – a part of him was kind of sad that the art – fantastic and amazing and so very flattering – would soon be gone. Thankfully, Gwaine had taken and had sent him that picture (and that multiple copies were available through his teammates).

“So, fearless leader,” Gwaine said, clapping Arthur on the back. “What’s the first _task_ of the _Task_ Force?”

Arthur shrugged. “See if anyone signs up?”

“Works for me,” his friend said.

“You can’t be serious,” Will said as Merlin penned his name on the fifth line of the Task Force sign-up sheet.

Merlin turned to his friend. “What? It’s my chance to hang with Arthur Pendragon,” he told Will, “and to scoop some community service hours while doing it. You know I’m way behind on those.” Really, it sounded perfectly reasonable to Merlin.

Will looked at him long and hard. “Dude,” he said finally. “You’re a _tagger_. Signing up to join a task force meant to _hunt down_ taggers. Do you not see the conflict here?”

Merlin shrugged. He saw it. He just preferred to pretend it didn’t exist. Because Arthur Pendragon was leading the task force and Merlin really did need to pick up some service hours if he planned on making his mother’s dreams come true and actually graduating.

Will puffed out his cheeks and sighed. He snatched the pen out of Merlin’s hand and added his name to the sign-up sheet below Merlin’s.

“This crush of yours?” Will said, stabbing the pen in Merlin’ s direction. “Oh yeah. Totally sending us on a one-way trip straight to Fuckville.”

He huffed and then stomped away, leaving Merlin to follow, a grin playing at his lips.

Will was such an awesome best friend.

  
At the end of the week, Arthur removed the pegged sign-up sheet from the board across from the cafeteria, surprised to find at least a dozen names on it. (Students at Camelot High were pretty apathetic when it came to activism initiated by their principal.) One name, especially, caught his attention: Merlin Emrys.

Okay, this was good, Arthur thought. Merlin had signed up to be a part of the Task Force. This would give Arthur an opportunity to get to know Merlin a little better, discover what the kid was all about, under the pretext of Task Force business. Yes. Maybe Arthur would even find a way to figure in a little chemistry tutoring while he was at it, for the safety and well-being of Merlin and his fellow students at Camelot High (it was only a matter of time before Merlin accidentally mixed something together that would blow up their classroom). Yeah, this was definitely good.

Arthur set up a first meeting of the Task Force for Monday after school (it was the only day he didn’t have lacrosse practice) and about twenty students showed up – most of them from Arthur’s lacrosse team – in the club meeting room next to the gymnasium. Arthur went about checking the sign-up list against those in attendance, quickly going through his teammates then trying to familiarize himself with those he didn’t know as well.  
It didn’t take long to get to Merlin.

“Uh, Merlin isn’t it?” Arthur said as nonchalant as possible. Thank God Gwaine was on the other side of the room busy trading stories with Lance and Percy.

“Yeah, um. Yes,” Merlin said and Arthur noted that the kid seemed surprised (and dare he hope a little breathless) that Arthur knew his name.

“You’re in my chem class,” Arthur said by way of explanation.

“Usually setting himself on fire, I hear,” a tawny-haired kid next to Merlin piped up cheekily.

Merlin elbowed the kid in the ribs and blushed deeply.

Arthur gave the mouthy kid an assessing once-over. “Who are you?” he asked sharply. He pushed away the dreaded thought that this kid might be Merlin’s boyfriend. Because that would definitely suck.

“Will,” the kid introduced, clearly unbothered by Arthur’s sharp tone. “Merlin’s BBF – Best Bud Forever.” He grinned then waved at hand at the sign-up sheet. “I believe I’m number six on the sheet there.”

Arthur flicked a glance to the paper in his hand. Indeed, there was a Will (last name illegible) on the sign-up sheet right below Merlin. Arthur sighed internally. Will was a friend not the boyfriend, he thought with some measure of comfort. That cut the kid’s annoyance factor at least by half. Still, there was the other half to contend with.

He gave the pair a perfunctory nod (okay, so he may have given Merlin a warm smile and shot eye daggers at Will) then made his way to the centre of the room to call the group to attention.

“Really, dude, what do you see in that guy?” Will remarked as soon as Arthur Pendragon moved away from them. “He’s about as personable as a fridge magnet.”

_A fridge magnet?_ Seriously? Merlin gave Will a look, wondering (and not for the first time) if his friend had suffered brain damage from excessive glue inhalation when they were kids.

It wasn’t long before Arthur asked for the group’s attention. They listened (well, _Merlin_ listened while Will scrolled through his Facebook and Twitter) as Arthur explained the task force mission (which totally made it sound like a battle campaign and Merlin lamented internally that he had no fighting skills whatsoever; he made art, not war). Arthur then detailed the structure of the patrol rotation schedule that would cover the school grounds as well as an eight-block radius beyond that stretched into the surrounding community. Aredian’s idea, no doubt. Their principal had a tendency to extend his authority beyond the boundaries of Camelot High. 

Arthur then went over the basics of graffiti art, how tagging constituted vandalism, and how taggers were to be considered a menace to the community . It was at this point Will pulled himself away from tweeting, scoffing in indignation. On instinct, Merlin put a hand on Will’s arm, ready to hold him back from marching up to Arthur and telling him what a fuck-twad (or some Will variation of this) he was. His friend cocked an eyebrow and winked at him, which led to Merlin narrowing his eyes and increasing the pressure of his hand on Will’s arm.

He and Will ended up being paired together as ‘patrol buddies’. Merlin might have preferred having the chance to pair up with Arthur because, well crush and all, but he figured it was probably for the best. There was no way he could do patrol with Arthur without his knees weakening and giving out. Or without flailing and possibly hyperventilating. So. Yeah. Probably best to stick with Will.

“It’s fucking insulting,” Will said as he and Merlin trekked home after the meeting. “No offence to your big gay crush, dude, but what the hell does Arthur Pendragon know about graffiti art, tagging or taggers?” 

Merlin was not offended. Much. “I’m sure he’s just working with information Aredian gave him,” he said. Merlin hadn’t thought Arthur looked too convinced that tagging was the Devil’s craft when he was giving his speech. But maybe Merlin had just been hoping because... remember? Big. Gay. Crush.

“Well, duh. Yeah,” Will replied. 

This led to a what ended up being a long rant on Will’s part about their principal and the horrible evils of power and authority that lasted for the entire twenty-minute walk home. 

And Merlin listened because he was awesome like that. 

Merlin nearly dropped the beaker in his hand when Arthur Pendragon suddenly piped up offering to pair with him for the lab assignment. It could have been his imagination, but Merlin thought he saw collective eyebrows raise (Mr. Monmouth’s included) in tandem with the collective gasps uttered (also from their chemistry teacher) at the golden boy’s offer. But he managed to keep a firm grip on it. He did end up dropping it, however, when Arthur joined him at his work table in the back, giving Merlin a knee-weakening smile, which resulted in Merlin spending the next five minutes silently cursing and mumbling apologies as Arthur helped him pick up and discard the broken shards of glass.

Despite his nervous awkwardness at being so close to Arthur Pendragon, Merlin managed not to set anything on fire (well, except for the cuff of one of Arthur’s sleeves which Arthur promptly snuffed out so it barely counted). 

Merlin tried not to express utter shock when, at the end of the period, he and Arthur were able to present a perfectly completed chemical reaction assignment

Mr. Monmouth raised an eyebrow, impressed. “Well done, Mr. Emrys,” his chemistry teacher said. “You actually completed an assignment. And surprisingly, with no fires today.”

Merlin saw Arthur’s mouth twitch as he put a hand over his slightly singed cuff.

“Um...yes?” Merlin said and saw Arthur’s mouth pull up into an amused half-grin.

Mr. Monmouth looked from Merlin to Arthur then said, “I do believe this pairing has turned out to be a good one. If Mr. Pendragon is willing, I would suggest that the two of you continue this partnership.”

“Of course, sir. I’d be happy to continue working with Merlin,” Arthur responded, giving Merlin one of his knee-weakening smiles.

Wait. What? Arthur wanted to be his lab partner? Like not just as a one-off time but for keeps?

Really, Merlin couldn’t be blamed then if his elbow happened to knock over the still lit Bunsen burner, catching the cuff of his own sleeve on fire. But lucky for him, Arthur was there to quickly put it out.

“So tell me, _why_ are we doing this again?”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Community service, Will. We need more hours, remember?”

“Oh yeah. Right. Community service,” Will said, giving Merlin a sardonic look. “Is that what you’re calling _I-joined-the-Task-Force-Against-Graffiti-and-Vandalism-even-though-I-am-a-tagger-because-I-have-a-big-fucking-crush-on-Arthur-Pendragon_?” 

Will aimed his phone to catch Merlin’s gaping face and clicked a photo, derailing the retort Merlin was about to deliver. He watched as Will typed in a text and then presumably hit send.

Merlin gaped some more. “Who are you sending that to?” he wanted to know. 

“Freya,” Will answered. When Merlin raised his eyebrows, his friend shrugged and said, “It’s for her _Merlin Has a Crush_ collage.” 

Merlin put a palm to his forehead. Really, have his friends not heard of boundaries? (Though, of course, now he wanted to see what this collage of Freya’s looked like because Merlin was about ninety-nine percent sure it existed.)

Two hours into their patrol shift (with Merlin doing most of the active part of the patrol while Will intermittently texted and tweeted), they came across Mordred, Daegel and Gilli hanging around suspiciously against the back wall of an old rundown shop. 

The spot was really a tagger’s dream. Far enough away from the street and from any passersby. The area was light enough to work in but still dim enough not to call attention to anything that might be going on there. The shop had long turned its ‘closed’ sign and it was highly unlikely that its owner would be returning any time before nine the next morning. The only reason Merlin and Will had stumbled upon the trio was that, as taggers themselves, they knew where to look.

“Hey,” Mordred greeted, one leg bent with his back against the wall. Two backpacks were lined up at his feet. Merlin knew what was in them. They all did.

“Hey,” Merlin returned uneasily. Of course, they would have to be the ones to stumble upon fellow taggers. 

“Oh look, it’s the Two-Faced Tagger Police,” Gilli mocked, drawing laughs from Mordred and Daegel. 

Will pocketed his phone (finally) and gave the three boys his full attention. “You girls done with the jokes?” he said. “Cause the way I see it, this gig--” he waved his hands around presumably to indicate the ‘gig’ being he and Merlin on task force patrol, “is pretty sweet. We get to scope out all the best tagging spots which means we’ll beat you fuckers to tagging ‘em every time.”

“Didn’t beat us to this one,” Daegel pointed out dryly.

“This spot?” Will expressed, his arms extending out to gesture widely at the wall. “It’s shit.”

“How’s that?” Mordred asked, pushing himself off the wall. He pretended to look uninterested but Merlin could see a hint of curiosity there.

“You want your work to be seen, right?” Will baited, knowing that was every tagger’s wish – to have their work seen, if not fully appreciated. Will snorted. “Who’s ever coming back _here_ except the owner, who isn’t going to give a shit about some tags on the back wall of his dying shop?”

“You came back here,” Gilli noted.

“Yeah. Because Merlin and I know how shit-taggers like you think,” Will replied. “You’re gonna pick some _safe_ spot because you don’t have the balls to tag a better spot that’ll get more traffic.”

Will was definitely baiting them and Merlin had to wonder what game his friend was playing. Will had tagged spots just like this more than a hundred times. Still, his baiting seemed to be enough for Mordred, Gilli and Daegel to mull over and then to decide to uproot camp and find another more visible tagging spot.

“Okay,” Merlin said once they resumed their patrol. “What the hell was that?”

Will rolled his eyes, puffing out a sigh. “Come on, Merlin. You really think you’re gonna be able to report Mordred and his gang to _Arthur Pendragon_ without being all weirdly fucking awkward about it and probably ending up needing to blow into a paper bag?” Merlin had to concede that Will had a point. “I was just thinking,” Will said, “if they’re out of the patrol zone, then you don’t have to worry about it.”

Will really was an awesome best friend.

By some miraculous (or cruel, depending on how you looked at it) twist of fate, Merlin did end up getting paired with Arthur for one scheduled patrol.

It was incredibly awkward as they walked ‘the beat’ together, Merlin feeling nervous and jumpy around Arthur, practically on the verge of having a panic attack. Which was ridiculous because Merlin felt they had finally settled into a kind of acquaintanceship, bonding as lab partners who worked toward the mutual goal of completing lab assignments with minimal fire hazard (so far, they had been successful but they still had a ways to go in the term). But this. This was...different. 

They had been walking for over twenty minutes in near silence when Arthur coughed to clear his throat then said, “You know anything about tagging, Merlin?”

And didn’t that just amp up the awkwardness about tenfold. “Um...um, yeah. A little,” Merlin told him, not trusting himself to lie to Arthur outright. Arthur looked at him, his expression curious. “My, uh, _cousin_ does some tagging,” he fibbed, aiming to deflect. Will was so much better at this.

“Yeah?” Arthur commented. “Any good?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty good,” Merlin said. Where the hell was he going with this? “He’s more of a street artist than a tagger actually.” 

Arthur quirked an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Is there much of a difference between being a tagger and a street artist?” he asked, interested.

“Mostly in style,” Merlin responded.

“Style?”

“Street art is usually more purposeful,” Merlin told him, already starting to feel more comfortable with the conversation. Street art and tagging were things Merlin knew. “Artists tend to create more elaborate pieces instead of just doing tags or throw-ups.” 

“Throw-ups?”

“More complex tags but not as elaborate as a full piece,” Merlin explained.

“So, street art is more artistic, more legitimate?” 

Merlin could tell that Arthur was asking the question out of curiosity rather being judgmental. He shrugged a shoulder. “Art is art, you know? Pieces, throw-ups, tags – it all has merit.” 

He flicked a glance at Arthur, who was staring intently at him. Merlin could feel the beginnings of a blush settling on his cheeks. What had he been thinking to tell Arthur all of that? Especially when they were on patrol to (in Will’s words) _hunt down taggers_? 

Arthur stared at Merlin for a moment, considering. He could see the blush creeping up and over Merlin’s cheeks, even in the relative darkness, and decided that it was pretty damn adorable.

He hadn’t really thought much about graffiti art or tagging, despite being appointed leader of Aredian’s Task Force. He certainly hadn’t formed an opinion on whether graffiti was art or vandalism, plain and simple. To hear Merlin talk about the distinction between street art and tagging and then basically claim all of it as art that had merit filled Arthur with a kind of curiosity that yearned to know more about Merlin and what he thought about things. Suddenly, the label of ‘artsy’, which Arthur had applied haphazardly really, seemed actually to fit Merlin quite well.

Which made Arthur wonder: Why _had_ Merlin joined a Task Force aimed at eliminating graffiti when it was so obvious he appreciated street art in its various forms? Merlin obviously knew a bit about tagging and graffiti art – maybe from hanging with his cousin, who was a tagger? Or maybe there was something else. Something Arthur couldn’t quite put his mind to yet. 

He shook his head to clear it of the nagging thoughts then continued forward. For now, he was happy to let it be and just enjoy Merlin’s company as they finished their round of patrol. 

_druid crew bombing tonite. gonna go. u coming?_

Merlin let out a sigh. He hadn’t been out tagging in forever, not since he’d joined Arthur’s Task Force and he was getting kind of antsy. He needed to let loose and paint. Merlin grabbed the patrol schedule from his messy desktop. Leon and Percy. Elyan and Owain. Arthur wasn’t on patrol tonight.

_im in_ , he texted back.

Merlin and Will met the Druid Crew (this was the name Mordred and his tagging friends went by) at the spot Mordred had texted Will to meet. 

Merlin looked at the wall – it was a good space for tagging – then cast a glance around the area.

“Maybe we should go out a little farther out,” he said. “This is still within the bounds of the Task Force Patrol.”

“What’s the matter, Emrys?” Gilli goaded. “Afraid you’ll get caught by your boyfriend?”

“He’s not afraid,” Will interjected while Merlin’s mind stumbled over the idea of Arthur Pendragon as his _boyfriend_. “Just shut your traps and let’s get this party started.”

That seemed to get things moving. Will always did have a way of motivating others. 

Mordred and his crew, along with Will, got straight to work on the outer parts of the wall, leaving the centre for Merlin to work his magic. At first, Merlin wasn’t sure what he was going to create but, as it often did, an idea quickly struck him as he started to free paint and soon the piece began to take shape.

“Nice,” Will said about two hours in. Mordred and the rest of the crew looked at Merlin’s work appreciatively. Mordred may have been a two-bit tagger but Merlin knew the kid was a fan of his street art work and that Mordred really did wish he had a smidgeon of the talent Merlin actually possessed.

Another couple of hours later, Merlin was adding his signature tag, intending to go back to add some detail to the flames when he heard shouts.

“Shit,” Mordred muttered. “It’s the fucking T.F. Let’s scram before we’re busted,” he told them.

Everyone scrambled. Merlin barely had time to think before Will was shoving him around the corner into an alleyway. But the route turned out to be a dead end. Mordred and the others had run in a different direction and were probably a good distance away already. Merlin and Will, however, were stuck in the alley with nowhere to go.

Will grabbed a hold of Merlin’s hoodie and pulled him up against the wall of the building closing in the alleyway, shooting his arm over Merlin’s chest to flatten him against the brick. He put a finger up to his lips then yanked Merlin forward so they could both peek around the corner.

The two-man task force patrol soon came into view. Merlin immediately recognized the behemoth Percy and was expecting to see the equally tall but not as large Leon. Instead he saw _Arthur_.

Shit.

“They can’t have gotten far,” Arthur commented as he directed his flashlight around the area. It wasn’t long before the torch lit upon the path leading up the alleyway. Will quickly pulled both of them back out of view, as Percy said, “Shall we take a look?”

Merlin could both feel and hear his heart hammering in his chest. It was only a matter of moments before they got busted and Merlin didn’t want to even think about how Arthur would react when he found them – found _him_ – hiding in the alleyway, pretty much announcing themselves as the tagging culprits. 

He didn’t have to face Arthur’s reaction, however, because Will suddenly put a hand to Merlin’s chest, giving him a hard shove, causing Merlin to stumble back then fall to the ground. He saw the flash of Will’s teeth in the darkness as he grinned at Merlin then rounded the corner bravely, calling out brazenly to the patrol pair, “Well, fuck. I guess you caught me.” 

Arthur directed his flashlight at the figure rounding the corner. It was that annoying kid Will – Merlin’s friend. What the hell was _he_ doing out here?

“You alone?” Arthur asked.

“Yep,” the kid replied. “Just me. All alone. Nobody else.”

“That’s ‘cause the rest of them got away,” Percy remarked. 

Arthur turned the flashlight on the wall, lighting it up. At the outer edges he saw the tag markings, which were impressive but certainly not extraordinary. They were like most other tag markings he had seen. No, it was the centre piece that caught his attention. More graffiti art than tagging, as Merlin had explained it. Like the portrait in the locker room. 

_A magnificent fire-breathing dragon._

“You do this?” he asked Will, waving his hand at the wall.

Will rolled his eyes then scoffed. “What do you think? I’m a tagger, dude. It’s kinda what I do?”

Arthur noted with interest that Will hadn’t exactly come out and admitted he’d been the one to tag the wall, instead deflecting with his usual sarcasm.

“You know we’re going to have to report you, right?” Arthur said, baiting.

Will shrugged. “Yeah, yeah. You gotta do what you gotta do and all that,” he said, looking unperturbed.

“To Aredian,” Arthur said, testing further. “And to the police.”

A look passed over Will’s face for a brief moment (fear, Athur thought, but surely not fear for himself) before he set it to his default expression – cocky defiance. Arthur had learned there was a code among taggers. A tagger did not rat out fellow taggers. He had a feeling Will was abiding by that code right now, which meant that he was taking the fall for others. Even if Will was a pretty good tagger, there was no way he could have done all the tagging on that wall. Arthur had to give Will credit. The guy certainly had balls if not brains. 

“Look, can we maybe sort this out later?” Will asked boldly. “It’s like two in the fucking morning, dude. You and Aredian and the fucking police can bust my balls just as easily tomorrow, right? After I catch a little beauty sleep? I mean it’s not like you can actually _arrest_ me.”

Arthur could see the smugness in Will’s expression. Percy looked to Arthur, eyebrows raised as if to say ‘Is this kid for real?’

Arthur gave a shrug. It wasn’t as if he had any intention of reporting this to Aredian or the police right at the moment anyway. It was, as Will had said, two in the fucking morning. And hell, _Arthur_ needed _his_ beauty sleep.

“Sure, we’ll sort it out it later,” he said, indicating to Percy for them to move along. He gave Will one last stern look, telling him firmly to “Go home.”

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” Merlin muttered frantically as he paced the floor of his bedroom.

After Arthur and Percy had left to continue their patrol, Will had dragged Merlin out from the alleyway and they had hightailed it back to Merlin’s house. Merlin’s mother was working nights at the hospital which made it easier to slip in without having to climb the tree in the backyard to sneak into Merlin’s second-story bedroom (a broken arm and a fractured wrist were memories that still haunted Merlin).

Will grabbed hold of Merlin by his hoodie and shook him. “Stop freaking the fuck out, Merlin.”

“How can I not freak the fuck out?” Merlin yelled at him. “How can _you_ not be freaking the fuck out, Will? Arthur’s gonna tell Aredian – you know he has to – and Aredian will sure as shit call the police. He hates you, remember? And you—you practically _confessed_ , Will. Mordred may be okay with you taking all the blame but I can’t let you do that.” Merlin ran a shaking hand through his hair. “Which means _I’m_ gonna have to confess so you’re not alone in this and then we’ll both be _expelled_ and then probably thrown in _jail_.” Merlin sucked in a breath, his anxiety and pallor growing. “Oh fuck, my mom’s gonna be so disappointed that I won’t be graduating because I got expelled and sent to prison.”

Will exhaled a loud sigh. “Dude, can you fucking dial down the _drama queen_ just a bit?” he asked, eyes rolling. “We’re not going to jail. And we’re not going to get expelled.” Merlin raised his eyebrows, totally disbelieving, because they were so getting expelled. That was a given. The only wildcard was prison. “Look,” Will said, finally relaxing his grip on Merlin’s hoodie. “I’ll fucking talk to Pendragon. Convince him to look the other way on this one, say he didn’t see me or catch anyone.” Merlin’s eyebrows lifted further. “No way I’m letting you fuck this all up now with your fucking _conscience_ by _confessing_ because you don’t want me taking the fucking rap for you.” 

It was probably the extreme level of anxiety he was feeling coupled with the situation that made Merlin think Will would probably be okay if somewhere down the line he did end up in prison.

Will raked a hand through his hair. “Fuck,” he said. He cuffed the back of Merlin’s head then ruffled his hair. “Didn’t I tell you, dude?” he said, rolling his eyes and smirking. “ _Straight to fucking Fuckville_.”

Arthur didn’t report the graffiti incident to Aredian the next day like he was supposed to. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to implicate Will - sure, there was no love lost between the two of them, but Arthur still had a hard time believing that Will was the mastermind behind the night before’s tagging. His instincts told him that kid Mordred was somehow involved. Arthur knew Mordred and his friends were part of a tagging crew. The Task Force Patrol had stumbled upon them in suspicious circumstances more than once, though no one had been able to actually catch them in the act.

He could definitely believe that Mordred and his friends and even Will had been responsible for the tag markings he had seen on the outer parts of the wall. But he didn’t believe any of them had painted that dragon. Which meant someone else was involved. He hated to have to think it, but where there was _Will_ , there was _Merlin_. So it ended up that Arthur had a pretty good idea just who might have painted the dragon piece.

Arthur went out to the spot the next afternoon – alone – needing to work a few things out before he decided what he was going to do. He stared at the wall, both scrutinizing and appreciating. In the daylight, the tag markings were more impressive than they had been in the dark, looking almost three-dimensional. But they paled in comparison to the dragon. 

Arthur soaked up every detail of the dragon piece, from the intricate scales to the pointed teeth to the richly painted fire breathing out from the dragon’s mouth. He couldn’t fathom how anyone could wield an ordinary can of spray paint and create such a magnificent work of art. It truly was a talent.

He was so caught up in appreciating the details of the dragon and the talent that went into creating them that Arthur almost missed the tag worked into the dragon’s fire breath – a black spiral with a lightning bolt tail. The same signature tag he had seen worked into the chainmail of the locker portrait.

Which meant....If Merlin had painted this dragon piece with the identifying tag signature – and Arthur was wholly convinced he had - then it meant _Merlin_ had also painted the locker portrait. And this meant that maybe Arthur had an answer as to why Merlin had joined the Task Force that had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to help Principal Aredian ‘crack down’ on miscreant taggers. 

A bubble of smooshy (it was his word, dammit, and Gwaine wasn’t here to tease him about it so Arthur was going to use it) excitement rose inside him and Arthur grinned. Yeah, he knew what he was going to do now.

Will had asked to meet with him during lunch on Monday. Arthur was pretty sure Will was going to make a case for not reporting him to Aredian (and the police) and he could have saved Will time by simply telling him that he had no intention of doing so, but Arthur wanted to see the kid squirm just a little bit first.

They met in the club room. The door had barely been closed behind them before Will started going off on him.

“Look, I know you’ve probably figured out already that I wasn’t the only one involved in that tagging. But before you go and do something stupid like involving the fucking police, just hear me out. You want to report me to Aredian? Fine. I don’t give a shit what Aredian does to me. Or the police. _Just leave Merlin the fuck out of it._ Merlin’s an ace guy with more fucking talent than any of us shit taggers. He’s a fucking brilliant _artist_. But he’s got one fucking fatal flaw: His stupid, ridiculous crush on you.” Arthur quirked an eyebrow. Will continued, “And don’t pretend you don’t know he’s crushing on you like a madman. You saw that portrait. That was like full-blown stupid-crazy crush right there and you know it.”

Arthur did know it. And he also knew that Merlin had a good friend in Will. Will may have been a tad annoying and a little caustic and he definitely swore like a trooper (Arthur’s ears were still ringing from the number of f-bombs Will had just dropped), but it was blatantly clear that he would do anything to protect his best friend. Arthur had to admire that.

“I’m not going to report you to Aredian,” he told Will, who gave him a fierce disbelieving look. “Or Merlin.”

Will looked like he was about to launch into another barrage of words so Arthur held up his hands hoping to convey an offer of peace to stem the tide. “As far as I’m concerned,” Arthur said, “this Task Force Aredian has set up is nothing more than a gloried witch hunt.” He saw Will’s eyebrows shoot up. “I don’t think taggers are a menace and I don’t think graffiti art is anything but _art_.” Will’s eyebrows shot higher. “Merlin is exceptionally talented,” Arthur said, aware that he was blushing now. “You’re _all_ talented in your own way,” he added, and was that a hint of a smirk on Will’s lips now?

“I’ve talked to my father and he’s agreed to speak with Aredian about dismantling the Task Force,” Arthur informed Will. “And to establish a program at Camelot High focused on graffiti and street art so students like Merlin can express themselves in the way they know best.”

Will looked stunned. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“My father is a very powerful man,” Arthur said with a shrug. “He’ll make sure it happens.”

Will’s face split into a grin. “Oh, dude. I really thought you were a royal douchebag. But you’re...you’re kinda okay.” 

Arthur wasn’t sure what to say to that. But it turned out he didn’t have to say anything because Will wasn’t finished.

“And, man...You’re Big Gay Crush on Merlin – which can been seen by astronauts from fucking _space_ , by the way - is totally going to _blow his mind_!”

And, yes. Merlin’s mind had been officially blown.

Merlin was still revelling in the unbelievable notion that _Arthur Pendragon_ , golden boy of Camelot High and chemistry lab partner extraordinaire, had a _crush_ on him, even as he enthusiastically pulled Arthur along with him through the city to show him all the great street art Camelot had to offer.

And if they happened to stop and linger at that really awesome three-dimensional snake pit art that Merlin was fond of to press their lips together on the pretext of warming themselves up, well – neither one of them could really be blamed, could they?


End file.
